HUD Section 811 Listening Session - April 14th

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This past January, President Obama signed into law the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act, amending and updating the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program.  Among other things, this bill provides a new authority to HUD to allocate long term operating assistance funds to states where a strong supportive housing plan exists to link services to mainstream affordable housing for persons with disabilities.

HUD will be holding a listening session on April 14^th from 1:00 – 3:00 pm to get stakeholder input and hear suggestions on how HUD might implement this new authority.  You are invited to attend.  However, participation is limited to 50 individuals so please RSVP by April 4^th, 2011 to Lisa Wimbush-Lathern at lisa.a.wimbushlathern@hud.gov.

The session will be held in the Brooke-Mondale Auditorium at HUD Headquarters in Washington , DC .  A conference call-in number will be provided for those unable to attend in person.

We look forward to your input and thank you in advance for your participation.

Carol J. Galante

Deputy Assistant Secretary

    for Multifamily Housing Programs

U.S. Department of HUD

451-7th Street, SW Room 6106

Washington, DC   20410

(202) 708-2495 (main line)

(202) 708-2583 (fax)

Service Coordinators in Multifamily Housing Program - Funding Opportunity

HUD
Department of Housing and Urban Development

Service Coordinators in Multifamily Housing Program

Modification 1
http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=66313

Invitation to a Special Open Door Forum on HHS and HUD Community Living Partnership

You are invited to participate in a Special Open Door Forum sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This Special Open Door Forum will focus on understanding the HUD HHS Collaboration: creating sustainable partnerships between the housing and human service agencies at the federal, state & local levels to improve the availability of affordable and accessible housing, which is being accomplished through two major efforts:

HUD HHS Community Living Collaboration and its six initiatives

Linking long term services & supports with HUD’s new Category I & II vouchers to assist individuals with disabilities

This HHS and HUD Community Living Partnership Special Open Door Forum will take place on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET.  Following the presentation, the telephone lines will be opened to allow participants to ask questions of the subject matter experts from HUD and HHS, including CMS.

Presentation materials will be posted by Friday, February 25, 2011 to the HHS Office on Disability webpage at http://www.hhs.gov/od/

To participate in the Forum, please follow the instructions noted below.

1.  Dial 1-800-837-1935
2.  Give the Conference ID Number, 44280806

Note: TTY Communications Relay Services are available for the Hearing Impaired.  For TTY services dial 7-1-1 or 1-800-855-2880 and a Relay Communications Assistant will help.

An audio recording and transcript of this Special Forum will be posted to the Special Open Door Forum website at http://www.cms.gov/OpenDoorForums/05_ODF_SpecialODF.asp and will be accessible for downloading beginning on or around April 1, 2011.

For automatic emails of Open Door Forum schedule updates (E-Mailing list subscriptions) and to view Frequently Asked Questions please visit our website at http://www.cms.gov/opendoorforums/.

Information about the Community Living Initiative can be found at the HHS Office on Disability http://www.hhs.gov/od/topics/community/olmstead.html.

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Program

AoA has added a new page to www.aoa.gov that provides information about a new role for Aging Network professionals in working with HUD HECM reverse mortgage holders who may be delinquent with certain property cost payments. 

Beginning in January HECM mortgagees who are delinquent in property cost payments will receive a letter from their lender regarding payment of these costs.  Many of these older mortgagees may turn to the Aging Network for assistance.  This new web page is designed to assist Aging Network professionals in understanding the issue and how they may assist.  Resources available on the web page include background information, summary information, and an FAQ that may be used with consumers.  As new resources become available, the AoA HECM web page will be updated to include them.

The new web page can be found under AoA Programs, Special Projects at http://aoa.gov/AoARoot/AoA_Programs/Special_Projects/index.aspx   

HUD and HHS Announce Joint Effort to Assist Persons with Disabilities to Move from Institutions to Independence

U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today a joint partnership between the two agencies to help nearly 1,000 non-elderly Americans with disabilities leave nursing homes or other healthcare facilities to live independently.  This is the first time two federal agencies are offering a combination of rental assistance, health care and other supportive services targeted to this population.
     
HUD is providing $7.5 million in rental assistance vouchers that will help nearly 1,000 individuals with disabilities rent private apartments.  Public housing authorities in 15 states will administer the rental subsidies and will work with state human service agencies to identify eligible individuals who could benefit from the program.  For a local breakdown of the funding announced today, visit HUD's Web site. 
       
Individuals receiving rental assistance through the program will also receive health and social supports that will enable them to live independently.  These supports are provided through the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid's "Money Follows the Person" (MFP) grant program, which allows individuals who qualify for Medicaid-funded nursing home or other institutional care to receive supports - such as in-home nursing and personal care services - while living in the community instead.  In places where the MFP program is not available, services will be provided by a state-sponsored institutional transitional program comparable to MFP that includes dedicated supportive services.
     
As part of President Obama's Year of Community Living initiative, HUD and HHS launched a joint effort to provide housing support for non-elderly persons with disabilities who are currently receiving long-term care in institutional settings.  The interagency collaboration is intended to allow persons with disabilities to live productive independent lives in their communities rather than in institutions. 

"The Obama administration is committed to helping Americans with disabilities live independent lives. Housing is a critical piece of the equation when it comes to transitioning out of institutions," said Donovan.  "Coordinating this effort with the Department of Health and Human Services is an important step in ensuring that more Americans with disabilities will have the housing and support they need to fully participate in community life." 

"Through our collaboration with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, I know that we will be able to dramatically change peoples' lives," said Sebelius.  "Individuals with disabilities can have a life in the community that serves their needs and supports them in leading productive, meaningful lives."
     
The funding announced today is being provided through HUD's Rental Assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities Program.  It is part of the $40 million HUD made available April 2010 to public housing authorities across the U.S. to fund approximately 5,300 rental assistance vouchers for non-elderly persons with disabilities to promote independent living for this community.  Public housing authorities applied for funding under two categories. 
     
Last October, HUD awarded $33 million to support a first round of 4,300 vouchers, making it possible for non-elderly individuals with disabilities and their families to access affordable housing in communities that meet their housing needs and so avoid potential institutionalization.  Today's announcement is for the second round funding to provide 948 vouchers targeted for non-elderly individuals with disabilities currently living in institutional settings, such as nursing homes, but who could move into a community with assistance. 

These vouchers will augment work already being done by HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through its Money Follows the Person (MFP) rebalancing demonstration program.  Now in its fourth year, the MFP program has made it possible for almost 12,000 individuals to live more independent lives by providing necessary supports and services in the community.  Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia are currently participating in the MFP program and CMS is expecting a new round of grant applications on January 7th.
     
State Medicaid agencies and local human service organizations will link eligible families to local public housing authorities that will administer voucher distribution.  To improve the connections between the housing authorities and Medicaid agencies, HUD and HHS have launched the Housing Capacity Building Initiative for Community Living Project to assist seniors and individuals with chronic conditions who are at risk of institutionalization or who currently receive care in institutional settings, in finding appropriate housing in order to live more independent lives.   
     
The Community Living Initiative is an outgrowth of the 1999 landmark Supreme Court ruling in Olmstead v. L.C.  In that case, the Court ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects a person with a disability from being unnecessarily institutionalized.  The Court said that such forced institutionalization can lead to isolation and segregation of individuals with disabilities and be a serious and pervasive form of discrimination.

TIME GOES BY | Reverse Mortgages Part 6: The Home Appraisal

by Ronni Bennett

Until the bank makes their offer of the principal amount of one's reverse mortgage, the numbers you have been working with in the Good Faith Estimate of loan costs from the broker are just that, an estimate.

In my case, since I bought this place fewer than three months ago, my broker used the purchase price for the calculations.

In the years since the inception of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's FHA-insured HECM program, loan brokers hired the appraiser. Recently HUD changed the rules. Now, the appraiser is picked randomly by an appraisal management company from a pool of state-certified appraisers. The reason for the change is to eliminate influence or pressure to inflate the value of the home and to ensure it is unbiased.
In practice, that means a new business has been created, a middleman who facilitates the process of choosing. The fee for the appraisal is, in some cases, paid by the applicant up front and in others is tacked onto the reverse mortgage.

Due to the additional layer of bureaucracy, the new system has increased the price of the appraisal to the borrower. In my area, it now costs between $450 and $550, up from $350 to $450 and the appraiser, who once got the full fee, now collects only half. The rest goes to the appraisal management company.

The nerve-wracking part of the appraisal process for the applicant is waiting for the value the appraiser places on your home because that, in the largest part, determines the amount of the reverse mortgage. In addition to a physical inspection of your home, recent sale prices of comparable properties in your vicinity are used to determine the appraised value.

Comparables, according to my broker Jerry Gilmour, are nearly everything in determining the appraised value, about 80 percent.

In past economic times, home values remained relatively stable over several months and easily predictable within a few thousand dollars. To decide the asking price of my New York home five years ago, I checked sale prices over the previous two years of condominium apartments that matched as closely as possible the location, size, age and desirability of mine.

By the way, that's how I knew the housing market was beginning to tank and I should sell as quickly as possible. There had been a steady and clearly discernible decline of about five to six percent over those two years in the sale prices of my comparables. Which leads one to wonder what those hotshot masters of the universe at Wall Street banks, not to mention the Fed chairman who kept saying the housing bubble was stable, do with their time.

In our current depressed housing market, home values are continuing to drop and many people are selling, when they can, at any price to get out of underwater forward loans. Plus, there may be low-priced foreclosure sales which, my counselor Buz Zeman says, is an unclear factor in reverse mortgage value determinations.

Jerry says foreclosures and short sales do count, but it is a hot topic in the mortgage business with many varying opinions.

Last week, Jerry told me an appraiser would call sometime this week to make an appointment to see my home. Depending on his/her schedule, I figured it might be a week or two until then. But on Monday, “Randy” phoned to say he had a hole in his schedule and could come by that day at around noon.

He was distantly friendly, efficient and clearly experienced as he wasted no time getting started. First, he measured the exterior bounds of my apartment. Inside, I showed him all the rooms and helped hold the tape measure as he recorded the dimensions on his clipboard.

I tried a minor sales pitch on him, pointing out that all the kitchen appliances, granite countertops and cupboards; the two toilets; all the windows; the carpeting and kitchen flooring were new within the past one to three years. Randy was noncommittal. He asked if the fireplace is gas or wood burning.

My concern is that when I was looking at potential homes in April, I saw two others in this condominium complex that were priced substantially lower, but had not been upgraded or maintained nearly as well as the this one. How the appraiser would know that is the unanswered question.

Randy wanted to know the amount of the condominium homeowners' association dues and what they cover – exterior building and grounds maintenance, landscaping, water and sewer fees, trash pickup, etc. He also asked about amenities – swimming pool, assigned parking, meeting/party room, rental apartment for guests.
He took a bunch of photos, inside and out; then he was gone. At most, Randy spent 20 minutes here. He called the next day to ask about the amount of guest parking and the number on my personal parking space. Who knew such details matter.

Randy said the appraisal would be sent today, Thursday, but I suspect that is a fluid time frame. When Jerry receives it, it will be packaged with the rest of my application papers and sent to the bank. I have requested a copy of the appraisal and if the value comes in too far short of the purchase price, I will ask to speak with Randy.

I have no idea if my inspection is typical. The couple who bought my Maine home did not have it appraised.
But when I sold my Greenwich Village apartment four years ago, the buyer's appraiser spent an hour with me and was fascinating. That building is more than 200 years old and he, obviously expert in New York City building codes and practices over centuries, showed me, among other things, what parts of the interior exposed brick were original and what had been replaced - more than a hundred years before - and how he could tell.

And, he pulled out a loose, two-inch nail in the utility room ceiling that was so old – original, said the appraiser – it had been hand-forged in a square shape. I have kept it as a souvenir of that beloved home.

I'll let you know if the appraisal comes in at an amount that is satisfactory.

The TGB Reverse Mortgage Series
Part 1: One Reason For a Reverse Mortgage
Part 2: The Basics
Part 3: Finding a Lender
Part 4: Do Not Fear HECMs
Part 5: The Mandatory Counseling Session
TIME GOES BY | Reverse Mortgages Part 6: The Home Appraisal

TIME GOES BY | Reverse Mortgages - Part 5: The Mandatory Counseling Session

by Ronni Bennett

On Wednesday, I participated in the counseling session required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) of all HECM (FHA insured) reverse mortgage applicants. A lender may not begin the mortgage process until it receives the certificate, signed by the counselor and applicant, that counseling has been completed.

The counseling is invaluable. My only complaint is that it should be done BEFORE you look for a lender. I did a lot of research and study, then used the HUD website to retrieve a list of local HUD-approved lenders, but my work would have been much more efficient if I'd had the counseling first – including some direction in how to choose a lender which the counseling includes.

If you get as far as choosing a lender before the counseling, the lender is required to give you a list of nine HUD-approved counselors to choose from. I didn't know that, so I asked the National Council on Aging (NCOA), a HUD-approved HECM counseling intermediary, for a recommendation.

The NCOA takes HUD-approved reverse mortgages seriously and offers trained counselors for no fee to low-income participants and for a $125 fee to higher-income applicants. The fee can be rolled into the reverse mortgage along with closing costs, home appraisal, etc., and the fee is waived with NCOA counselors unless you go through with obtaining a HECM.

The goal of this post today is not to provide you with details of the workings of HECM reverse mortgages, but to explain what you can expect from the counseling session.

My Counselor

Counseling may be done in person or by telephone. A face-to-face meeting is advisable if you are relatively uninformed about how HECMs work. In my case, I already had a lot of information so I was offered a phone session with Buz Zeman, a HUD-authorized counselor affiliated with NCOA.

He is also the director of Housing Options for the Elderly, Inc. (HOPE) in St. Louis, Missouri, and a veteran, since 1993, of 3,000 HUD HECM counseling sessions who also trains incoming HUD counselors. There isn't much he doesn't know. He was thorough, patient and an all-around good guy – a smart, impartial coach to obtaining a reverse mortgage.

In our first conversation last week, he asked some personal questions that would aid him in preparing for our counseling session: my age, income, marital status, estimated value of my home, whether there is a mortgage or other encumbrances, etc. All information is confidential and never disclosed to an applicant's lender.
We set a date and time for the counseling and Buz emailed a packet of information that included:

• A letter confirming our appointment along with a list of the included documents for my review
• A sample certificate of having completed the counseling
• An overview of reverse mortgages
• A list of the topics to be covered during the counseling session
• A loan analysis including estimates and comparison – as examples - of the several versions of HECMs that I might choose from
• Amortization tables showing examples of how much money would be paid out and left as equity over a period of years
• Benefits checkup – other kinds of financial help that may be available locally
• Going green and Energy Start information
• Information you should know about after getting a reverse mortgage

Counseling will determine if you are eligible for a reverse mortgage and help you make an informed choice, but counselors do not recommend specific loan products or specific lenders.

The Counseling Session

Buz telephone at the appointed time and he began with his explanation of the counselors role. He then went through the personal and property eligibility requirements - currently, most co-op apartment are excluded but, according to Buz, should be included soon.

Then we went through the details of how a reverse mortgage works and in great detail, the numbers in the example reverse mortgage types he had prepared for me. I printed these out so I could follow along more easily than onscreen and make notes as we spoke.

Personalized HECM Details

This isn't easy stuff even if, like me, you have done extensive homework on reverse mortgages before the counseling. Buz's estimates came on a page with three examples of possible loan types I might choose from, side-by-side so I could compare.

He explained how the loan amount and interest rate are arrived at and how, if you choose an adjustable mortgage, it can change in the future. The loan principal limit is an estimate at this point that will change depending on the appraised value of your home which you won't know until you have begun the loan process.
[By the way, interest rates are very low right now, but there is no guarantee that will remain so in our volatile economic climate so this is a good time to do it if you have been considering a reverse mortgage.]

Costs and Fees

We went through the fixed costs and fees, and those that are variable – the latter being the lender's “margin” (interest rate), monthly service fee if you choose a variable rate loan and its “set aside,” origination fee and closing costs. These are subtracted from the final principle amount of the loan.

Like I said, there is much to learn in the details of this which involves a lot of numbers and percentages, but Buz patiently explained each item with excellent analogies that made it easier to understand.

I had been given similar estimates from the three lenders I had contacted. Most of the numbers were near matches to Buz's except for the loan origination fee of which there is a large spread of nearly $3600 among the three. Buz explained that although the origination fee is capped for most HECMs at two percent of the home appraisal, in recent months as HECMs have become more popular, some lenders have been reducing this charge (and/or some others) to be more competitive, which is a good reason to shop for a lender.
Buz noted that occasionally exorbitant title company fees have been discovered. This should not vary much from what a counselor has estimated for you and you can question these costs.

It helped a lot when Buz explained costs that are familiar from forward mortgages and those that are unique to reverse mortgages.

An important consideration is closing costs that can vary widely from lender to lender, but they should be close to your counselor's estimate. If they are much higher, you should consult your counselor. In my case, I have the list of closing costs from my recent purchase of this home so I will be able to compare those with the itemized list I will get when I apply for a reverse mortgage with a lender.

Prior to our counseling session, I had typed out a list of questions I had. Most of those were answered as Buz talked me through the possible loan terms and he carefully explained those that remained. This part of the counseling took up most of our time together.

Other Counseling Topics

He also explained tax implications. No income tax is paid on reverse mortgage income (it is a loan, after all) and interest is not deductible. Important: food stamps, SSI. Medicaid payments and a few other benefits can be negatively impacted.

Sometimes there are options other than a reverse mortgage that may be more sensible depending on personal circumstances and intended use of the funds. Those were clearly explained too along with the borrower's obligations.

Obligations include keeping property taxes, homeowner's insurance, flood insurance (if required in your area) and repairs up to date.

Buz and I covered many other details of reverse mortgages, but these are the major points. Buz also assured me that if I have more questions he is available by phone and email to answer them.

Choosing a Lender

You should definitely shop for a lender to get the best deal. Even a .25 percent difference in an interest rate can translate into an increase or decrease of thousands of dollars in the principal amount available to you from a reverse mortgage. And as mentioned above, some lenders are currently reducing costs in the name of competition, but this could change in the future.

Each lender you speak with should give you a written preliminary cost estimate on all the kinds of reverse mortgages that are available. Later, when you have chosen a lender, you will receive a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) which will be as close as possible to the final figures, although they can change slightly in the interim between receiving the GFE and closing.

Fraud is a common concern in regard to reverse mortgages; they have had a poor reputation. This should not be so. The vast majority of HECMs abide by HUD regulations, but there are occasional exceptions. From the preliminary material Buz emailed before our session:

”HUD has learned of a fraud scheme involving HECM loan officers. In one scheme, the loan officer arranges for the title company to pay the loan proceeds through two checks. One check is sent to borrower and the other is kept by the loan officer.

“In another scheme, the loan officer persuades the senior to sign over loan proceeds to the loan officer for future disbursement to the HECM borrower...

“The proceeds received from a loan should be paid directly [and only] to the borrower or should be deposited into the borrower's bank account.”

I don't know if all counselors do so, but Buz included in his package to me a list of lender deceptive practices that should be a red flag to anyone considering a HECM. Among them:

• Pressure to buy other financial products and services with the proceeds from your reverse mortgage
• The suggestion that a HECM is a “government benefit.” It is not; it is insured by the federal government
• The suggestions that a HECM will provide income for life. Funds are available only for as long as you live in your home
• A lender who pressures you to act quickly
• A lender that obligates you to fees before you receive the Reverse Mortgage Counseling Certificate

Bottom Line on Counseling

Buz cautioned that all counseling is not created equal so shop for a counselor as you do for a lender. If a prospective counselor tells you, for example, that the session can be done in less than hour, it will not be useful or worthwhile.

Although HUD requires training for all their approved counselors, Buz says it is not always adequate. HUD is working to improve training and certification, but meanwhile you should choose carefully to get the full benefit. Any good counselor should send you a package similar to what I have outlined before the session.

Personally, I recommend finding a counselor through the NCOA. It is an excellent advocate organization for elders that takes its mission seriously.

As mentioned above, I am convinced that counseling makes more sense to be done prior to shopping for a lender. Buz and the NCOA agree and are pushing for that to become standard.

I could not be more pleased with the counseling I received from Buz. Even with the research I had done before our session, I learned a lot that I hadn't known. He gave me alternative ways to think about some of the details and choices I was considering and I came away from our conversation feeling thoroughly grounded – so much so that I wish I had a Buz Zeman for other aspects of my life.

Thanks to Buz and my own research, I have decided to go forward with the HECM, and the next post in this series will report on the loan process.

The TGB Reverse Mortgage Series
Part 1: One Reason For a Reverse Mortgage
Part 2: The Basics
Part 3: Finding a Lender
Part 4: Do Not Fear HECMs

TIME GOES BY | Reverse Mortgages - Part 5: The Mandatory Counseling Session

Grants.gov - Housing Counseling Services

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The synopsis for this grant opportunity is detailed below, following this paragraph. This synopsis contains all of the updates to this document that have been posted as of 07/26/2010 . If updates have been made to the opportunity synopsis, update information is provided below the synopsis.
If you would like to receive notifications of changes to the grant opportunity click send me change notification emails . The only thing you need to provide for this service is your email address. No other information is requested.

Any inconsistency between the original printed document and the disk or electronic document shall be resolved by giving precedence to the printed document.

Description of Modification

Document Type:	Modification to Previous Grants Notice
Funding Opportunity Number:	FR-5415-N-02
Opportunity Category:	Discretionary
Posted Date:	Jul 26, 2010
Creation Date:	Jul 26, 2010
Original Closing Date for Applications:	Aug 27, 2010
Current Closing Date for Applications:	Aug 27, 2010
Archive Date:	Aug 28, 2010
Funding Instrument Type:	Grant
Category of Funding Activity:	Housing
Category Explanation:
Expected Number of Awards:
Estimated Total Program Funding:	$79,000,000
Award Ceiling:	$0
Award Floor:	$0
CFDA Number(s):	14.169 -- Housing Counseling Assistance Program
Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:	No

Eligible Applicants

Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

Additional Information on Eligibility:

Eligible applicants include: HUD-approved Local Housing Counseling Agencies (LHCAs); HUD-approved national and regional intermediaries (Intermediaries); State Housing Finance Agencies (SHFAs); and HUD-approved Multi-State Organizations (MSOs).

Agency Name

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Description

This program supports the delivery of a wide variety of housing counseling services to homebuyers, homeowners, low- to moderate-income renters, and the homeless. The primary objectives of the program are to improve financial literacy, expand homeownership opportunities, improve access to affordable housing and preserve homeownership. Counselors provide guidance and advice to help families and individuals improve their housing conditions and meet the responsibilities of tenancy and homeownership. Counselors also help borrowers avoid inflated appraisals, unreasonably high interest rates, unaffordable repayment terms, and other conditions that can result in a loss of equity, increased debt, default, and eventually foreclosure. Additionally, counselors may provide counseling services to homeowners to prevent or resolve mortgage delinquency, default, and foreclosure, with the primary objective to preserve homeownership. Counselors provide guidance and advice to help families and individuals meet the responsibilities of homeownership and modify or refinance their loans to avoid unreasonably high interest rates, unaffordable repayment terms, and other conditions that can result in a loss of equity, increased debt, default, and eventually foreclosure. Applicants funded through this program may also provide Reverse Mortgage Counseling to elderly homeowners who seek to convert equity in their homes into income that can be used to pay for home improvements, medical costs, living expenses, or other expenses.

Link to Full Announcement

Grants.gov/APPLY

If you have difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, please contact:

PHL HOC Brenda Bellisario 215.861.7268
ATL HOC Carolyn Hogans 678.732.2129
DEN HOC Vic Karels 303.675.1640
STA ANA HOC Rhonda Rivera 714.796.1200x3210
HHQ Intermediaries Terri Gilyard-Ames 202.402.3025 See NOFA

Grants.gov - Find Grant Opportunities - Opportunity Synopsis

TIME GOES BY | Reverse Mortgages – Part 2: The Basics

by Ronni Bennet

Because there are many small details to know about reverse mortgages and enough individual questions to fill a book, I am going to start broadly and drill down in subsequent posts so that we can absorb the needed information in bites (bytes?) we can easily digest.

Let's start today with a definition.

At least once in their lives, the majority of U.S. grownups go through the process of getting a traditional mortgage to pay for the purchase of a home. We pretty much understand what it is: a bank lends the money to pay for the property; the borrower repays the loan at an agreed-upon interest rate over a set period of years.

It is not much more complicated than that.

Although there are different requirements and more caveats associated with a reverse mortgage, at its most basic level, it is just that – the reverse of a traditional (“forward”) mortgage: a bank loan, secured by your home, that gives you regular payments or a lump sum based on the value of your home at the time the reverse mortgage is made.

Interest is charged on the outstanding balance which continues to grow, due to continuing interest, even when you do not take out additional funds. But you owe nothing, make no payments until the loan is due when you permanently move out of the home through a sale or death.

Eligibility Requirements

You (or the youngest borrower, if more than one) must be at least 62 years old.

You must have sufficient equity in your home to pay off any traditional mortgage with the proceeds of the reverse mortgage, a requirement to obtaining the reverse mortgage.

That's it. Income, health, credit rating or score are not considered.

Your Obligations

You are required to keep homeowners insurance and property taxes paid and to keep the property in good repair. Failure to do so can result in the loan being called due.

Remember, you continue to hold the title to your home and no matter what rumors you've heard or what others have told you, as long as you keep up those three obligations, you cannot be thrown out of your home. Also, you pay nothing until you sell or move out and you will never owe more than the value of your home.

Types of Reverse Mortgages

Reverse mortgages come with various interest rates and differing up-front costs. Some fees may he high, but the interest low and vice versa. One kind, called proprietary, is designed for people with extremely high-value homes offered by a few banks and other lending institutions. If you are rich enough to qualify for one of these, you're on your own. In this series, I am concerned only with HECMs because that is the type I am considering.

About 95 percent of all reverse mortgages are HECMs (pronounced HECK um by those in the business), the acronym for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages – administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and insured by the FHA.

The FHA insurance protects the lender if the sale price of a home (when you move out) does not cover balance of the loan. It also protects you, the borrower, so that if the lending institution that holds your reverse mortgage files for bankruptcy or otherwise stops servicing your loan, your reverse mortgage will not be affected.

HECMs are as safe and secure as traditional mortgages and you should not be afraid of them. There was a time, early in the program, when large lenders with many kinds of financial products could give you a reverse mortgage with one hand and lock you into an inappropriate annuity, for example, with the other. But that is no longer allowed.

Problems today are not with the mortgage lenders, but with how people use the proceeds from the reverse mortgages. We'll talk about this in a future installment.

Benefits of a Reverse Mortgage

These are the five most common reasons people give for taking out reverse mortgages:

1. To pay for ongoing medical treatments, prescription drugs or a large, one-time medical bill


2. To make home improvements, modify a home for aging needs or pay off a traditional mortgage


3. To pay off large, high-interest debts


4. To take a long-awaited, lavish, dream vacation


5. To supplement Social Security and/or other monthly income

Number four seems a frivolous reason to take on large, expensive debt, but who is to say what is important to each of us.

Number five is my reason. As I explained in Part 1, the financial collapse of 2008 took a huge chunk of my savings and I don't have the stomach now to reinvest what remains, so my income is uncomfortably reduced.

For me, a reverse mortgage will provide a cushion to pay for future medical or other unforeseen needs and therefore return some of the peace of mind I lost in the 2008 crash. It also will give me some breathing room around normal expenses and, maybe, allow for some modest travel now and then which I can't otherwise afford. I don't have expensive needs so mostly, it's that peace of mind I'm going for.

Disadvantages of a Reverse Mortgage

There are good reasons to think very carefully before taking out a reverse mortgage.

If you were planning on leaving your home to the kids or grandchildren, they may not be able to afford to pay off the HECM after you die.

If you live alone and need to stay in a rehab, assisted living or nursing home for more than a year, you are required to pay off the mortgage.

Costs are high. They include all the fees you paid when you purchasedd your home (title search and insurance, FHA appraisal, document preparation, flood certification, credit report, etc.) plus an origination fee to the lender based on the appraisal of your home. The least it can be is $2,500 and there is an upper cap of $6,000. And there is the MIP - mortgage insurance premium - for the FHA mortgage insurance which is two percent of the amount of the reverse mortgage up front and, annually thereafter, one-half of one percent of the loan amount.

Usually, closing costs and fees are tacked onto the mortgage, but keep in mind that you pay interest on that money throughout the life of the loan in addition to the lender's ongoing service fe which is $30 or $35 per month.

Recently, lenders have been offering reverse mortgages with low or no origination fees and lower service fees. I'll look into this and let you know details as this series proceeds.

This is a general overview, the basic information needed to think clearly and rationally about a reverse mortgage. More next week. If I have been unclear, please leave questions in the comments. You can leave other questions too that you would like answered in future installments.

Reverse Mortgage Series
Part 1: One Reason For a Reverse Mortgage

TIME GOES BY | Reverse Mortgages – Part 2: The Basics

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U.S. GAO - Nonprofit Sector: Treatment and Reimbursement of Indirect Costs Vary among Grants, and Depend Significantly on Federal, State, and Local Government Practices

GAO-10-477 May 18, 2010

Nonprofits are key partners in delivering federal services yet reportedly often struggle to cover their indirect costs (costs not readily identifiable with particular programs or projects). This raises concerns about fiscal strain on the sector. To provide information on nonprofits' indirect cost reimbursement, especially when funding flows through entities such as state and local governments, GAO was asked to review, for selected grants and nonprofits, (1) how indirect cost terminology and classification vary, (2) how indirect costs are reimbursed, and (3) if gaps occur between indirect costs incurred and reimbursed, steps taken to bridge gaps. GAO selected six Departments of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development grants and 17 nonprofits in Louisiana, Maryland, and Wisconsin. GAO selected these agencies for their historical relationship with nonprofits. GAO reviewed policies and documents governing indirect costs and interviewed relevant officials. GAO also reviewed research on nonprofits' indirect costs.
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5,300 Housing Vouchers for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities

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by Steve Gold - 5,300 Housing Vouchers for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities. Information Bulletin #307 (4/2010).

Many of you remember the Information Bulletin issued on 6/30/09 announcing that HUD had issued a "Proposed Notice" - $30 million for 4,000 housing vouchers for non-elderly disabled persons.

HUD received 175 comments! Terrific response. Many of you wrote HUD! Many (not all) of the problems in the Proposed Notice have been eliminated or modified.

On April 7, 2009, HUD and CMS issued a joint release announcing a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). The number of vouchers that will be available has increased to 5,300 and they're putting up $40 million. Here is web address for the NOFA:
http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/program_offices/administration/grants/fundsavail/nednofa.pdf

These vouchers will be awarded on a competitive basis. Your Public Housing Authority must apply for these in order to receive them. Now the fun really begins. You - advocates for persons with disabilities - must make sure your Public Housing Authority applies before July 7, 2010. HUD plans to announce the winners in October, 2010.

There are two categories of vouchers - Category 1 for 4,300 for persons with disabilities, and Category 2 for 1,000 persons with disabilities in institutions who want to live in the community but cannot afford to without a voucher. Public housing authorities can apply for both categories; maximum number of vouchers for housing authorities relates to the number of baseline units it already has, i.e., larger housing authorities can apply for more vouchers than smaller authorities, as well as other "threshold requirements."

Non-elderly disabled family means the head, spouse or sole member of the family is under 62 and the person with a disability. Can your housing authority identify such families on their waiting list?

A housing authority can use Category 1 funding for people in institutions as long as it establishes a preference under its housing choice voucher program. Category 2 funding is only for families transitioning from an institution to the community. For people who might be "at risk" of going into an institution, HUD states that "PHAs are encouraged to establish a preference for families at risk of institutionalization for Category 1...."

People in institutions - Category 2 folks - are not the natural constituencies of local public housing authorities. Also, most likely, people in institutions are not even on a public housing authority's waiting list. Therefore, some creative effort must be focused on this category. The HUD "Response to Public Comments," which is at the above web address, explains what housing authorities can do to address this issue.

Disability advocates should be contacting their State Medicaid officials immediately. Your State Medicaid officials know if there is a State agency that can apply directly for Category 2 vouchers. If there is, make sure this is actually happening. If there is no such State agency, then your State Medicaid officials (MFP and others) must quickly develop a relationship with local Public Housing Agencies! This will probably be a new venture for your State Medicaid officials and the Public Housing Agencies.

We do not expect your Housing Authorities to welcome you (or even your State Medicaid agency) with great enthusiasm because applying for these vouchers will take work, effort and time. Volunteer to help them.

In a number of States, we do not expect your State Medicaid officials to welcome you, because they have been so long not in the business of freeing persons with disabilities from institutions that such efforts are not part of their culture. Yikes, free people. What a novel idea.

Yes, nothing comes easy! You have 90 days. The clock is running. There are disability advocates throughout the country who will help you. Let's us know if you need assistance.

Also, please keep a record of who you contacted, what dates, what they said, etc. We will collect it after 7/7/10.

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.

To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com or call 215-627-7100.

HHS, HUD PARTNER TO ALLOW RENTAL ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT LIVING FOR NON-ELDERLY PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Thousands of Americans with disabilities will have housing assistance specifically targeted to meet their needs, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today.

As part of President Obama’s Year of Community Living initiative, HHS and HUD collaborated to provide housing support for non-elderly persons with disabilities to live productive independent lives in their communities rather than in institutional settings. HUD is offering approximately $40 million to public housing authorities across the country to fund approximately 5,300 Housing Choice Vouchers for non-elderly persons with disabilities, allowing them to live independently. HHS will use its network of state Medicaid agencies and local human service organizations to link eligible individuals and their families to local housing agencies who will administer voucher distribution.

The vouchers will augment work already being done by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through its Medicaid Money Follows the Person (MFP) grant program. Originally set to expire next year, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010” extended the MFP program through 2016 with an additional appropriation of over $2 billion. The Act also cut to three months, from the previous six months, the amount of time a person must be in an institution to qualify for help making the transition to community life.

“This number of vouchers to this community is a major milestone for HUD,” said Donovan. “I am pleased that two federal agencies have combined efforts to give these individuals the independence they so desperately want and deserve.”

“This commitment by HHS and HUD to directly link housing support to these individuals will be of immeasurable value not only to them, but to the communities in which they will be living,” said Sebelius. “Individuals with disabilities have so much to contribute to the quality of life in our communities when given the freedom and opportunity to do so.”

Of the 5,300 vouchers set aside as part of this program, up to 1,000 will be specifically targeted for non-elderly individuals with disabilities currently living in institutions but who could move into the community with assistance (Category II). The remaining 4,300 (Category I) can be used for this purpose also, but are targeted for use by non-elderly individuals with disabilities and their families in the community to allow them to access affordable housing that adequately meets their needs.

In addition, HUD is encouraging housing authorities to establish a selection preference to make some or all of their Category I allocation available to individuals with disabilities and their families who, without housing assistance, are at risk of institutionalization. Housing authorities have 90 days to submit their applications to HUD. HUD expects to have funding awards ready late fall 2010.

“Many of these individuals are low-income and can not afford market rates for housing. For a number of Americans, these vouchers, along with Medicaid home and community-based services, are essential supports that make the President’s vision for community living possible,” Sebelius noted.

The Year of Community Living is an outgrowth of a 1999 Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C., in which the court ruled that under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) unnecessarily institutionalizing a person with a disability who, with proper support, can live in the community can amount to discrimination. In its ruling, the Court said that institutionalization severely limits the person’s ability to interact with family and friends, to work and to make a life for him or herself.

As a result of the Olmstead ruling, HHS issued guidance to states on how to make their Medicaid programs more responsive to people living with disabilities who wish to reside in the least restrictive setting. Today’s announcement is yet another step in HHS’s 10-year effort to achieve that goal.

HUD Funds Available Announcement

HUD-HHS Collaboration: Improving the Link between Housing and Services. Information Bulletin #304 (3/2010)

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by Steve Gold

The following Information Bulletin is a FYI. As many of you know, historically the federal departments of HUD and HHS each operated as if the other did not exist and as if each had no impact on the other.

We in the trenches knew that there were many people in institutions solely because they could not afford housing. We knew how each department impacted on each other, and how their noncooperation adversely impacted on peoples' ADA right to live in an integrated community.

What follows is "as of" March 2010. It is not final, not yet funded, and obviously not yet implemented. However, we thought you should be aware of the direction the collaboration between HUD and HHS is taking. We do not know the timing or details of the following proposals, nor can we predict if any of the proposals will become reality, but nevertheless think you should be aware of what's going on.

The two federal departments are proposing the following with regards to "Community Living (aging & disability):

1. "Transitioning to the Community: Reducing Barriers to Accessible and Affordable Housing ($180 million from HHS for 2-year bridge housing to assist persons leave institutions for the community)

2. "Creating Housing and Services Resource Coordinators and Community Living Specialists ($4.5 million from HHS/CMS to provide PHA level service coordinators, and city/state level housing-service coordinators for elderly persons and persons with disabilities)

3. "Increasing Capacity building to Improve Services and Access to Affordable Housing. ($2.5 million from HHS for TA to assist PHAs link with Long Term Care supports- NOFA about to be released)

4. "Improving the Delivery of Community Living Services by Establishing a "No Wrong Door" system ($20 million from HHS to devise consumer friendly intake linking housing and human service programs)

5. "Encouraging Workforce Development ($4 million from HHS/HRSA to train HUD residents/recipients to be direct care workers).

6. "Improving coordination between HHS Civil Rights Office and HUD's Fair Housing Office as it relates to Olmsted oversight."

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.

To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com or call 215-627-7100.

HUD's Failure to Enforce Accessibility in the HOME Investment Partnership program

Steve Gold's Information Bulletin #302 (3/10)

Many of you remember the struggles the disability advocates had with HUD in late 90s/early 2000s with regards to HUD's failure to enforce of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which required accessibility of Public Housing Authorities' housing. As a result of your efforts, including complaints you filed, HUD finally conducted a number of compliance reviews and signaled the clear duty of PHAs to have at least 5% of public housing units accessible for people with mobility disabilities and another 1% for people with hearing and visual impairments.

Well folks, it's about time HUD conducted similar enforcement with regards to the $22 billion of federal funds that have been allocated throughout the country via the federal HOME Investment Partnership. Nearly 350,000 rental units have used HOME funds for new construction, rehabilitation and/or acquisition.

National data shows that about 45% of these rental units are occupied by families whose incomes are less than 30% of the average median income and another 40% whose incomes are between 30-50% of the AMI. The lowest-income people are primarily in HOME's rental units.

Wouldn't it be great if low-income people with disabilities were renting these units? Wouldn't it be terrific if HUD had conducted accessibility HOME compliance reviews? Hmm, we might even have a lot more accessible units available for low-income people with disabilities.

Here's where you can find HOME information in your state. Go to http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/reports/#npr, click on Dashboard Reports and then your State. You can then see which "participating jurisdiction" you are in. Click on the pdf file. You will then find a chart which provides cumulative information (since 1992) regarding the total number of units completed and the percentage that are rental (HOME also funds Homebuyers and Homeowner).

Once you get that information, you can figure out what number of HOME's rental units in your area must comply with the 5%/1%/1% accessibility mandate. With this information, you can talk with your "participating jurisdiction" public officials who administer the HOME funds. If you have any problem finding out who they are, just telephone your regional HUD officials and ask them. Even if HUD officials do not know whether Section 504 has been complied with in the HOME program, they do know the local and state officials who have received $22 billion.

Now the fun begins. Visit the HOME administrators and ask for the addresses of the accessible units. If they do not know or refuse to provide it, file a complaint with HUD! Yes, ten years later we're back to HUD, except this time it's regarding HUD's failure to ensure HOME recipients comply with Section 504. We had some success with forcing HUD to monitor public housing and now we'll push HUD to monitor HOME funds.

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.

To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com or call 215-627-7100.

Federal Transit Administration - FTA Announces Launch of Livable and Sustainable Communities Website

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The Federal Transit Administration recently launched a new Livable and Sustainable Communities Website -- an important step in FTA’s efforts to advance the Department of Transportation’s Livability Initiative and the Interagency Sustainable Communities Partnership. This website can be viewed at: www.fta.dot.gov/livability.

The website provides information about the Department of Transportation’s role in livability and sustainable communities, the interagency partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency and Housing and Urban Development, and how FTA is supporting these exciting new initiatives. Specifically, FTA has reworked its transit-oriented and joint development webpage, included information on transit and environmental sustainability, highlighted efforts on affordable housing near transit, and provided case studies that can be used by transit agencies and communities around the nation as they plan to make their cities and towns livable.

FTA is uniquely positioned to contribute to these initiatives as many of its programs inherently support livability and sustainable communities. Transit provides critical services that connect all members of the community, rural and urban, with employment, health, educational, and other important opportunities and services. On the website, FTA has provided a key webpage that lists FTA’s grant programs as they relate to livability. This list includes major grant programs, such the Urbanized Area Formula Program, as well as programs that focus on specialized services, such as those serving seniors and people with disabilities.

FTA will continue to expand on the assistance we provide the transportation industry to build the principles of livability and sustainability into communities around our Nation.

Come on HUD, Free People from Nursing Homes

by Steve Gold
Information Bulletin # 301 (2/2010)

Ah, the hopes raised by a new HUD administration. Early last year, Congress provided funds for 4,000 Mainstream Vouchers for Non-Elderly People with Disabilities. New Secretary of HUD, Shaun. L. Donovan, met with ADAPT and agreed with ADAPT that 1,000 of these vouchers should be used to help disabled people move out of nursing homes.

On June 22, 2009, HUD issued a "Proposed Notice" in the Federal Register. Comments were due by July 14, 2009. A number of you responded with comments.

Before any of these 4,000 vouchers can be used, HUD must publish in the Federal Register a Notice of Financial Availability (NOFA) so that Public Housing Authorities and others can submit competitive bids for these vouchers. Yes, another Federal Register publication. After that occurs, HUD must review the bids and then allocate the vouchers.

How many people will die before one voucher is used? How many people with disabilities will develop bed sores in nursing facilities? Urinary tract and other infections in these institutions? How many people in what President Obama called "the year of community living" exist in nursing homes waiting for these vouchers?

Hmm. Why has it taken more than SEVEN months and still NO NOFA? Doesn't HUD understand that there are people unnecessarily institutionalized solely because they cannot afford to rent an apartment without the rental assistance of a voucher? Doesn't HUD and the White House realize there are actual cost savings from using the vouchers and having people live in the community? Doesn't anyone in the White House or HUD have a relative in a nursing facility who wants to get out? Don't they understand how dangerous nursing facilities are?

Here is one excuse we've heard - approval of the NOFA is "in process at OMB." Well, tell Secretary Donovan to at least pretend that these vouchers and ending discrimination against people with disabilities is a HUD priority. Tell him to get his butt down to OMB and tell them he's not leaving until these vouchers get out of OMB! If he needs company at OMB, let us know!

Send HUD an email - Shaun.L.Donovan@hud.gov to "Free Our People."

Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.

To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com or call 215-627-7100.

Sharp Expansion of HUD’s “Moving-To-Work”Demonstration Raises Serious Concerns — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

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By Will Fischer

A proposal before Congress would sharply expand HUD’s Moving-to-Work (MTW) demonstration. Unless important limitations are added, this expansion would reduce the number of families receiving housing assistance by shifting funds out of the Section 8 housing voucher program. It also would expose more low-income families to risky policies than is necessary to test innovative approaches, and allow local policies to diverge to a degree that could weaken housing assistance programs.

The proposal is part of the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA), which overall is an important, well-crafted measure containing significant improvements to the voucher program and other federal rental assistance programs; the House Financial Services Committee approved the bill in July 2009. SEVRA includes a provision that would allow up to 80 state and local housing agencies to participate in the Moving-to-Work demonstration program (compared to 30 today) and rename it the Housing Innovation Program (HIP).

Despite its name, MTW is not focused primarily on supporting employment. MTW allows HUD to grant sweeping waivers of a wide range of federal statutes and regulations to agencies that administer voucher and public housing programs in order to test experimental policies. It also allows HUD to establish special funding formulas for MTW agencies and to permit them to shift funds between the voucher program and public housing.

SEVRA’s MTW provision would constitute a fundamental and far reaching change to federal housing policy, as the expanded demonstration could affect close to 1 million vouchers and public housing units — about 30 percent of the total nationally.

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AMNews: Aug. 19, 2009. AHA cautions HUD against tightening hospital financing program ... American Medical News

By Victoria Stagg Elliott - The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development should not up the financial standards that health care institutions need to qualify for Federal Housing Administration Section 242 hospital mortgage insurance, according to a letter issued July 27 by the American Hospital Assn. and co-signed by members of a coalition of national health care associations. Read More

GAO Report - Reverse Mortgages -

Policy Changes Have Had Mostly Positive Effects on Lenders and Borrowers, but These Changes and Market Developments Have Increased HUD's Risk On the basis of a survey of HECM lenders, GAO estimates thattaken together, HERA’s changes to the HECM loan limit and origination fee calculation have had a positive to neutral influence on most lenders’ plans to offer HECMs. Other factors, such as economic and secondary market conditions, have had a mixed influence. Although economic conditions have had a positive influence on about half of lenders’ plans to offer HECMS, secondary market conditions have negatively influenced about one-third of lenders. GAO also estimates that the HERA changes have had little to no influence on most lenders’ plans to offer non-HECM reverse mortgages. HERA’s provisions will affect borrowers in varying ways depending on home value and other factors. The changes to HECM origination fees and loan limits are likely to change the up-front costs and the loan funds available for most new borrowers. GAO’s analysis of data on HECM borrowers from 2007 shows that if the HERA changes had been in place at the time, most would have paid less or the same amount in up-front costs, and most would have had more or the same amount of loan funds available. For example, about 46 percent of borrowers would have seen a decrease in up-front costs and an increase in available loan funds. However, 17 percent of borrowers would have seen an increase in up-front costs and a decrease in available loan funds. HUD has enhanced its analysis of HECM program costs, but less favorable house price trends and loan limit increases have increased HUD’s risk of losses. HUD has updated its cash flow model for the program and plans to conduct annual actuarial reviews. Although the program historically has not required a subsidy, HUD has estimated that HECMs made in 2010 will require a subsidy of $798 million, largely due to more pessimistic assumptions about long-run home prices. In addition, the higher loan limit enacted by HERA may increase the potential for losses. Read More

Housing Vouchers for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities

Steve Gold's Information Bulletin # 290 (6/09). On the 10th anniversary of the Olmstead decision, June 22, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a Proposed Notice regarding funding for 4,000 Mainstream housing vouchers for non-elderly people with disabilities. Vol. 74 Federal Register, No. 118, 6/22/09, pages 29504-29510. The Proposed Notice described two categories of vouchers: Category 1: 3,000 vouchers for non-elderly people with disabilities; and Category 2: 1,000 vouchers for non-elderly people with disabilities to transition from nursing homes and other institutions into the community. There is good news and some troubling/not so good news. First some background information. All of the 4,000 vouchers are "competitive," i.e., your local public housing authority must apply to HUD and compete against other public housing authorities. HUD will review applications and decide which public housing authorities will receive these vouchers and how many. HUD has established threshold requirements and an application form [See pages 29505-07.] The good news: 4,000 non-elderly people with disabilities will receive vouchers to pay for affordable housing. Also, HUD recognizes that some people with disabilities live in nursing homes only because they cannot afford to rent apartments in the community and targets 1,000 of these vouchers to transition people out of these institutions. The troubling/bad news: the Proposed Notice limits vouchers in Category #1 to people on the public housing authority's waiting list, and limits vouchers in Category #2 to people who "must be admitted from PHA's waiting list and assisted through a preference as stated in the PHA's Administrative Plan for transitioning people from institutions." You might want to send HUD comments regarding the following: 1. Re Category #1: What if a public housing authority neither identifies people on its voucher waiting list by disability nor has many people with a disability on the list? Will the public housing authority open up its waiting list? Email and tell HUD either to require public housing authorities to open up the waiting list so people with disabilities can apply for these waivers, or HUD should administratively waive the "waiting list" requirement for these vouchers. 2. Re Category #2: People who are in nursing homes, most likely, are either not currently on a public housing waiting list or, if they were on the waiting list sometime in the past, probably have been dropped from it. We would be amazed if there were more than a handful of public housing authorities that currently gave a "preference as stated in the PHA's Administrative Plan for transitioning people from institutions." Email and tell HUD to waive this requirement - if it really wants these 1,000 vouchers to transition people from institutions to the community. 3. In the Proposed Notice, only public housing authorities can apply for these 4,000 vouchers. Email and tell HUD to change the regulation so that if a public housing authority does not apply for these vouchers, then a non-profit organization or a public entity other than the public housing authority should be permitted to apply. Otherwise, the disability community is at the whim of a local public housing authority. 4. Many state Medicaid officials and departments want to access these vouchers to assist persons with disabilities to transition out of institutions and to prevent people from going into these institutions. These state Medicaid folks could save considerable federal and state funds if they could apply for these vouchers. Email and tell HUD to permit state Medicaid departments, maybe in conjunction with a state housing department, to apply for these vouchers, if a local public housing authority does not apply. Even though the Proposed Notice had o deadline for applying and HUD is not accepting applications until after it reviews the comments in response to this Proposed Notice, it is very important for advocates for people with disabilities to contact their housing authorities NOW to discuss their willingness to apply for these vouchers. We hope that all of your housing authorities will apply for the maximum number of housing vouchers for which they are eligible, so that as many non-elderly persons with disabilities as possible can use them to access affordable housing. You should write to your public housing authorities requesting they apply for these vouchers. If they do not respond or if they give you the runaround, find out why. Comments to HUD must be submitted no later than July 13, 2009. If you wish to send in comments electronically, send to NEDVoucherNOFA@hud.gov Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects. To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com or call 215-627-7100. -- Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues